To Chase the Wind
by NabikiB
Summary: Rose Tyler is a lonely, lonely girl. She's right under his nose, but can he find her? She won't go to him this time. She's tried that, several times. This time, though...she waits. She's got plenty of time, after all. And apparently, he does have a solution, even if it wasn't what anyone would have expected. 11/Rose, 5/Rose, 13/Clara.
1. Winter

_**Rose Tyler is a lonely, lonely girl. She's right under his nose, but can he find her? She won't go to him this time. She's tried that, several times. This time, though...she waits. She's got plenty of time, after all. And apparently, he does have a solution, even if it wasn't what anyone would have expected.**_

* * *

_**To Chase the Wind**_

_**Winter**_

* * *

The place was in the middle of nowhere, in America, because you just couldn't get the kind of isolation she wanted in small, relatively crowded old England. Deep inside what would someday become the DeSoto Natl. Forest, in a little cottage, Rose Tyler waited. She had any number of things she shouldn't have had, in this age, behind the thick, high stone walls that surrounded all of her homes, the one in England that would become legendarily impregnable (unless you had a TARDIS...and it had to be the right one) and the big, fifty acre stretch of cleared land she called her 'yard'. She actually owned several hundred acres, but the rest were forested. Then again, since humans hadn't _yet_ evolved to sapiens, _she _shouldn't have been there either.

Some of the devices hummed, some clicked constantly which was annoying, however needed they were and so were kept in an outbuilding instead of her home because of that...most had blinking lights and were, at the very least, very odd and complicated in appearance though rather simple to service. They did different things, she had several that worked together to stabilize the local weather patterns so it rained or snowed when it ought to and was bright and clear the rest of the time. Three kept the average temperature inside the massive stone walls at a comfortable 85F, rain or shine...snow melted into rain at the top of the projected field. She had a lot of deer shelters which looked to the deer like shallow cavelets where they could get out of the wet and wind...when the forests around her were shoulder deep in snow, the does brought their youngsters into the green meadows of her yard through a special gate where they were keyed into the force-field and ate the herbs and grasses in them. More kept _unauthorized _aliens from spotting her including most Time Lords, four more, one on each wall, kept other humans from noticing her, another four...one on each corner of the walls kept her from being seen by fliers, ship, aircraft or predators made no difference. Almost all her devices were used to hide herself in eras where she had no business to be.

However, _one _shone like a beacon to one particular ship: It was buried in the ground under the house, where there was also a small rift, under a room made just for the Doctor to land the TARDIS in, if he ever noticed that she had quite a few things she _shouldn't _have...had them _and _used them...and came to investigate her, them _and _that beacon.

None were off limits for her, after all...they were just out of place in this era. So she kept herself hidden away and used her off-world or other universe things to grow her food plants and tend the hungry wildlife's needs, enjoying her friends amongst the deer the most. She knew most of the fawns...and so in hunting season, just after the rut, she put up a dampening field that reduced the fights between bucks and welcomed them in...and she put up a permanent force field to keep other humans from noticing that there was a patch of forest that they stopped being able to enter. It was a rather large area, though and that had, surprisingly found her watching Jack on one of the monitors, trying to figure a way in. She still had his personal signature though and keyed him in, and the next time he passed what had been a force fielded open gate, he got in. He had a few shocks himself, when he met the lady of these hidden glades. Poor Jack.

* * *

Torchwood knew where she was...or at least, _Jack _did. UNIT America knew as did UNIT UK, but as she'd told Jack, once, a few years ago, "Three times, I went back to him and three times...well, if he wants me that badly, he'll just have to come and get me. I'm not going to him. You can tell him that, you can tell him which forest I'm in, you can tell him he'll need to pack most of this stuff up...not all of it since the deer are trained now and pets, sort of, anyway, but don't give him my address. He's not stupid, he can find it _himself_ since I'll have a beacon up for him. But he has to come for me this time. I outlived Frank...the clone, yeah? He wanted a nice ordinary name, Franklin James, not Smith, by the way. But I out lived him and found a way home and I'm staying in the universe of my birth. If the Doctor doesn't like it, do me a big favor and tell him in the foulest terms you can manage, exactly what he should shove up his arse. And make sure it's_ super gross_."

Jack, surprisingly, had turned nearly turned purple. She didn't ask what nasty thing he'd thought of to suggest that the Doctor use to do as she'd asked, she knew him well enough to know that she really _didn't want to know_, but sometimes his ways could be useful for passing a message.

* * *

She sighed as he spread her legs, she'd gone years without a lover since Frank died and if the Doctor wanted her, he'd have to work for it now. She met Jack's eyes as his mouth moved within her folds. Neither of them wanted more than the other was willing to give, just fuckbuddies, was all. Friends with benefits, Jack called it. She looked a total slut just now, she knew, with her dressing gown askew and her nightgown hiked up so he could lick her pussy. Even Jack got fucked out, once in a while and while it never lasted more than a day, but the time he was ready for another go, he'd be back in Cardiff. And he'd left poor Rose hanging that last time. So he ate her out instead. Both holes were tasted and his tongue drilled into them, his fingers as well.

He took his time, too, made it good for her, made her wait, let it build before he gave her what she needed for the last time. He didn't tell her he was leaving Earth, or why. She knew something was wrong when he finally gave her a trembling hug and walked to his car to drive away, out of her yard, out of her life.

It took a while for her to understand that he wasn't coming back and far longer to forgive him for that...or at least, for not taking her along. But, he hadn't and that was that.

She continued to wait. Her days were busy even if she never left, but that was because she'd installed or planted things that made sure she'd stay occupied, either with weeding, tending or maintenance. That's why she kept it summer in here...she didn't want to get stuck snowed in with nothing to do but _remember_. A few years before she'd found a way home, she'd come across some people that were pitying of her imperfect ability to recall her past and offered to fix it for her. At the time, she'd _needed _the ability so she'd agreed. From her earliest memory of floating around in her mum's womb til now, she could recall...in prefect detail. She remembered exactly what she'd done when Bad Wolf had first hitched a ride.

* * *

She barely took note of the passing of years, as each season rolled into the next and her gadgets began to wear out, one or two at a time. Her reflection in the mirror did not change so it was hard to relate to passing time, in this regulated world she'd made for herself, where the only differences were in terms of variations of daily chores. She never saw _anyone _anymore, Jack was long gone and the Doctor didn't come. Not for a very long time.

However, one morning she did hear the engines and put down the plate she'd just picked up to wash back down into sudsy water, dried her hands with the dishtowel and went outside. She hadn't landed in her reserved place, after all. She saw the ship, patting her side as she passed the door, "Where'd he go?" she asked, pausing, and got a notion of left and a feeling of a few hundred yards. "Don't take him _anywhere_, yeah? And go on inside, if you like, it's just me here, after all. And I'm sure you want your mini-rift? Go get a snack." She smiled a bit at the affirmative response she got, before heading to the left hand barn...where there were worn out, broken or just dead equipment. The sort of seal she had on the _other_ buildings, she figured he'd just try asking first. It was sonic proof.

He had regenerated, of course he had, how many times she wasn't sure. But he wasn't her Doctor or the Bow-tied one she'd met once, so long ago now. Nor was he one of the infants.

"What do you think you're doing with all this?" He asked without turning around. "And a great huge, TARDIS beacon in your _house_."

"Storing it mostly out of the way, since none of it works anymore. The working stuff is over there, in the other building, localized climate and precip stabilizers mostly." She told him. " I'm not like you, I won't leave her out in the weather if I don't have to, it's rude. I told her to go on indoors, if she wanted." She peeked over his shoulder at what he was looking at. "Oh _that_, that gave out two centuries ago, Jack had borrowed it and I don't really want to know what he did to it or used it for...especially the 'used it for' part, all I know is that he fried it. Pity. Now the bugs and flies and mosquitoes and things get in when they didn't used to."

"So, you know Harkness, do you?"

"You idiot." She sighed. "Turn around."

He did so, jaw starting to sag as he stared at her. "How long..._wait_, centuries?"

"Probably as long as you've avoided looking to see what or who was living here. Bad Wolf, Doctor, it seems she rearranged me a bit. Don't mind, really." She flicked her eyes at the junk on the shelves. "You want that stuff, take it. The other barn's deadlocked to my DNA, which you probably do still have some of...but it's loads easier to wait until I finish the dishes and make supper and then, after we've eaten, if you want to have a go at the still functional stuff, be my guest. When is the last time I've denied you anything important? Outright, I mean...cuz I'm hungry and I want my supper. So, yeah, I'm gonna make you wait until after I've eaten...so you may as well eat with me."

He frowned at her, she snickered at this attempt to make her do it now.

"Don't bother Doctor. We both know your assorted frowns haven't worked on me since _before _Sat Five."

_"Rose..." _He tried giving whinging a go...and she laughed at him for his trouble.

"It's been a long time, for both of us. Mine's been all linear...about two thousand years worth. Couldn't believe how glad I was to see Jack. Almost didn't recognize the boy." She shrugged as she turned to lead him back to the house. "Missed you." She whispered, barely a breathe of sound, but she knew he'd hear her. She noted the TARDIS was gone, but wasn't in her usual spot when she led him indoors. "Did you know? Sometimes she visits, when you've left her parked somewhere. Most of that stuff I found waiting for me on the floor just inside her doors. She keeps me company a lot. Not enough, mind, but it helped. She said she'd bring you when I could come back and that I would be with two different yous on two different timestreams. So, since she's parked where I had my increasingly huge pile of luggage, for..._whenever_...I'm going to assume she's grabbed it for me. If you feel like _losing yet another _argument with her, feel free to make the attempt." She told him grinning as she ran a bit more hot water into the soapy water already in her sink and finished up the dishes. "I think the extra walkin freezers are gone too and the chest freezers, which is good since there's no point wasting food and I've got a ton of it." She pointed with her chin at a partway open pantry. "Give her those crates too, will you? Mostly things I've jellied or preserved myself. Had plenty of time to pick up various skills, including preserving foods...and I got pretty good at it."

* * *

He watched her for a moment, then closed his eyes and just let her presence wash over him, the sound of her much missed voice filling him and then, with a small smile, did as she'd asked and moved the rest of the food supplies from the pantry to the TARDIS. She had gotten over being overly impressed with him a long while back, he supposed. While he was doing that, she made them supper, a nice fry up of freshwater fish, trout, actually, cornmeal hush-puppies and a few vegetables. Fried okra, fried green tomato slices, black-eyed peas and a cherry pie, made from the cherries from her own orchards were put on the table.

"There's a thing in the other barn that she said to hold onto until she brought you. Something about using it to move my gardens, orchards and a few other things. Not all, 'bout half the trees, though I want the gardens intact, she'll keep the other half of the orchards and groves for you." She smiled. "No need to stop for groceries unless you want to. I've got one building of which the contents need to come along, fifteen different new species of banana that I've developed over the years, along with a variety of other tropical fruit in there...sustainable groves, too. She adjusted the thing for me..it's much bigger on the inside."

_"Bananas?"_ She could almost see his ears prick up. "Sure, no problem."

"Still hungry?"

"Just a touch."

"Here, grew it myself." She handed him the biggest banana he'd ever seen. "Sorry, that's one of the small ones, but you _did _just eat dinner."

_**"Small?"**_ He stared at it. It was nearly two feet long and four inches thick. Still... He peeled it a bit, nipped off the tip and hummed in pleasure before devouring the thing like he was _starving_. She just laughed at him again. She still adored him, he could see that in her eyes, but she wasn't worried too much about responding appropriately when he did something that amused her. He didn't mind, the fallout from Sat Five and Pete's World had harmed her more than he could have imagined, two millennia of self imposed isolation, on the slow path at that, could mean nothing less. If he could make her smile, even at his expense, he would.

* * *

He spent the next few days helping her pack her things into the TARDIS, though at times she caught him staring at her and once he'd scanned her with the sonic. At that point, she made him take her into his med-bay and run a full physical...to establish her new baseline. It was far less like being a bug under glass, that way.

She knew he was studying her, just like she knew he'd see..._really _**see**...all the little things that were off, these days. She wasn't really a people person anymore. He was the first person she'd seen other than herself in a mirror in more than two hundred years. And even then, it'd been one of his baby-selves. She'd been closed mouthed all the time she helped him, saying very little if she could help it...but she'd done her job and gotten him out of the pickle he'd been in when he'd had more blonde curls than Shirley Temple and a sharp tongue fit to fly the hides off most people. His startled expression when she reminded him of how she'd confused him then, moving as one with him, never having to wait to be told obvious things, for all her silence. He'd only asked her about it once, when he was Six.

_"I rode with Nine and Ten...how much did you want my jaws to yap at you about I saw this or you did that then or whatever? Seriously, Doctor, there's not a whole lot I can say that you won't have to forget anyway. Why waste my time?"_

_"Ah." Was all he'd said and then he'd left it alone and just allowed her to help him. She'd made that him supper too, as she recalled. He'd stayed a day or three, sensing how lonely she was and picked up most of the details of her isolation without any input from her. But, eventually she'd shoved him back into the TARDIS with a few homemade pies in one hand and the comment, "There's a few fixed points out there that you're supposed to establish...and you can't do that sitting at my kitchen table or simpering around with those little girl curls, Doctor!" ringing in his ears. _

_Finally she'd given the TARDIS' doors a last hug, closed them firmly and used her own key to lock them behind her._

It had taken him _three days _to figure out why the doors refused to open and by then he was firmly back in his established timeline.

* * *

"You locked me into my own ship, from outside, _with your key_." He grunted as he watched her load her housecats into said ship..._the things he allowed this woman to do..._ But, he just shook his head at the observation that she had nine of them, two of which were heavily pregnant and one and all, each of them, even the youngest of the kittens, looked up at him and managed, from the floor, to somehow still look down their small noses at him...and held his peace. Not many species could use body language to cuss him out, but every Earth cat he'd ever met had it down to a fine art.

"Yeah." She chuckled. "Six was a bit of a soft touch, if a person knows the real you well enough. And I do."

"Yes, you _do_." He paused. "Simpering really fit that self rather well...but I didn't notice until you _mentioned _it. I was a bit startled and started behaving more like a male, after that."

"Oh, it _was _cute, especially with that outfit...just not 'er...at all _Doctorish_." She smirked. "Miss-ish, maybe."

"Yeah, I got _that _part from your tone." He retorted. "It took a few more months but I did switch outfits, 'little girl curls' indeed."

"Looks like this one has gone the other way, highly masculine but not all that touchy. Not going to get away with that level of standoffishness with me, you know. I need it too much."

"Yeah. Saw that as Six. My current timeline isn't working for you, not this one anyway. I think I need to have a little chat with Five. He had a chance to split his timeline and he took it, he's still me...just not me-me, and therefore, he's a 'him' instead of an 'I' or something similar. After he talked to an older self about a companion who was a great deal more than just that, in deep trouble in her own and now I'm pretty sure I'm the one that had that conversation and you're the lady in distress. Something that needed my undivided attention for a good long while. Sound good to you?"

"So..."

"You'll be able stay with me, obviously you're not aging so restarting that far back on a different timeline won't do either of us any harm. And you'll not only get a few extras, but you'll get a few you know back...eventually."

"Gotta see what I can do about slowing down your regenerations." She snorted. "The older you get, the clumsier you seem to _become_."

_**"OI!"**_

* * *

_But he didn't mention Clara or how much he loved her, he couldn't. Not to Rose, who for all her strength was rather fragile just now. At the same time, he wasn't about to just walk away from Rose, either, therefore passing the problem off as being a regeneration utterly incompatible to her would have to do._

_So he had to settle her somewhere she'd be happy and with a Doctor, just not this himself and there was only way to do that, as his ship had told her. He sighed as he murmured the idea to the TARDIS and she did the rest. He had to leave it to his timeship to find just the right Fifth. Just after Tegan left, but before he'd gone back for Peri. One that would agree to take Rose instead and not return for the American girl at all. Just having someone competent with him would change so much in Five's life...having that person be Rose? He was giving himself the right to be happy. He hoped he was giving Rose Tyler the same right...and a good shot at it. After all, like Clara, Rose knew his name._

_Rose had been hard to get over, taking him several centuries to do so. Now he had a wife he adored and three children that got away with very little under their mother's watchful eyes and he was working on getting Clara pregnant again. He'd moved on, but he'd done it the right way and for the right reasons, this time._

It took a bit, but finally he was landing in the console room of a Five that wasn't even in his timestream _or even loomed from the same set of parents_, him but not, close but not really him at _all_. And he told that Five all of Rose's history that he knew. "I'm married now, I have three time tots and am trying for a fourth, I can't, won't do that to Clara. But Rose...she deserves better than to live alone for however long she has. She married my clone, he told her our name, so we still owe her a husband. I can't, I've already got a wife."

"Yeah, I'll take her, if she'll come. She sounds like a lovely, brave girl. It also sounds like the damage done was taken willingly, for our sake."

"Girl? Five, unless you've made it past your second millennium already, she's older than you are by a good fifteen hundred years. She was born a human. 1986, met her when she was 19 and I was Nine. I've started a second cycle and she's still got about three hundred years on me in this body because she's been living linear since about four centuries before humans made all the way to homo sapien." The Thirteenth paused, then nodded. "But yes, it _was _for our sake."

"Actually, I have. I'm nearing my third one," Five replied smugly. "And any girl who would do so much needs an answer: There is only one answer for it."

"Are you? Well, that's good...she always seemed to _like _the age gap." Fourteen was pleased. "Look, Rose is pretty hands on, she needs to be held and be held _onto_. She'll be under your skin pretty fast...and that's not a bad thing. She'll give you everything she has in her, which as incredible as that was when she was nineteen is a hellava lot more effective now. But yes, I can't answer it the way she deserves, so I had to find a self that can."

"I've got this. I can do that."

"She'll want children, _eventually_."

Five paused to stare at him in disbelief.

"The human way...no looms, _just you_. And she _can_, she's very much compatible with us. Plus, she's never more content than when she's in our arms." Was the last thing he said before getting back in his own TARDIS and going back to his wife. He'd still miss Rose, but he had been given a second chance at a great love with Clara. Five was a lucky sod, though, to be the recipient of all the love Rose held and brought to bear, sometimes with devastating effects, for any Doctor. She truly didn't care _which_.

* * *

_**~*~TBC~*~**_


	2. Thaw

_**Rose starts to get used to living with someone else again, even if it is just the Doctor. Five starts to get used to the idea that he didn't have to surpress this body's need to indulge in primitive sexual behavior. All his lives he'd been something of a pervert, to his people, because of that. But while she was a lot more now than she'd been born to, Rose was still human. She considered such behavior as his people looked down their noses at, as a normal part of a relationship...so he did what he always did. He started making plans. First though, she needed to heal.**_

* * *

_**02 **_

_**To Chase the Wind **_

_**Thaw**_

* * *

It took a good little while, as she got used to this much younger body, though he was older than she was in terms of Earth years. She was fairly quiet at first, really, not saying much at all to him, out of habit. It took a while for him to figure out why the girl, while casually affectionate, refused to talk to him...once he did though, he took the time he needed to prove to her that he was on a completely different timeline from the Doctors that she'd known before, so telling him whatever she wanted to about their lives _wasn't _forbidden. He had to remind her a few times, but eventually, he got details her own Doctor's Fifth wouldn't have _ever _been told.

The girl had given him everything she had in her and everything she was, for return, the Doctors she'd known had made her life hell. She had seemed less upset than he would have expected at losing the him on the other timeline, but...now that made a whole lot more sense. He found himself stunned by her answers to problems even he wouldn't have easily found solutions for and horrified by her treatment by the other Doctor's Eleventh body. One doesn't have that kind of a bond with someone and then give her a metacrisis in exchange for you. She hadn't bonded with the _clone_, after all. It was rather like replacing the groom at a wedding with his _defective_, but otherwise identical twin. Even in his society, _it just wasn't done_.

_In Rose's case_, the act had forced her to watch the clone die by inches every day, for over eight decades until one day he just wasn't there anymore. Why would you do that to someone you claimed to care for?

So _this _Doctor, who was more of a true healer in his Fifth than in most of his forms anyway, took his time with her. He let her set her own pace and only took them into intervention situations when the TARDIS insisted. The rest of the time, he took her on an extended tour. This wasn't her universe either, actually, and she knew that but she stayed at his side during the ugly moments that hurt him as well as the beautiful ones that gave him joy. She had a habit, once she'd learned this body's quirks, of coddling him more than a bit and when the odd dictator or villian threatened him the culprit regretted doing so rather quickly. He never knew when he'd left the rescued Peri at her home, that he'd further extended this body's life expectancy. There were a lot of things she didn't mention to him. The Fifth never quite got to the bedding bit, but he understood she was waiting for something to either happen or not, before she went that far with any him...because her first Doctor's bodies had taught her two things...patience and caution. He held her a great deal but his libido had stalled out when he'd realized just exactly how damaged she was and _why_. He altered his plans to suit and gained the best friend he had ever had by doing so. She just wasn't ready for anything more than that and it wasn't as if they were short on time, either of them.

He did manage to get her a lot more comfortable around people, though. That was a matter of getting her to relearn the things she'd forgotten centuries ago and in practice it took a good eighty years to get her back where she had been before she'd settled deep into America's past, in her home universe, at a time when mega-fauna walked the lands...thus the massive stone wall around her home...and began living quietly through the centuries in isolation.

* * *

He wasn't happy, oh, no...he wasn't the least, tiniest _bit_ happy with the thought that a DOCTOR had caused this. Repairing it took a long time but eventually, she got it all back. He'd 'called' Thirteenth back, about fifty years in and had intended to chew his arse off. Instead he got the body that was the _real _culprit, Eleventh, and explained to him exactly what that particular body of his had caused...how far she'd progressed and how much she still had to regain...and topped it off with an explanation of the vortex time involved that was so complicated that if our original Doctor _hadn't _been a Time Lord, he'd never have understood it. Fifth had ended the call with the remark,

"Do the right thing, _arsehole_ and split both your timelines. She's been here with me through a couple of fixed points now, so doing so on your end won't change those things or her presence here, but she has a somewhat younger self in a forest who is waiting for _**that **_you and _**she needs you**_. She's older than _you _are by over a thousand years! How could you? How could a _Doctor _do such a thing to someone who never did anything but love him and prove it, with every breath that she took? Dispose of that stupid hand if Harkness still has it. She won't love you any less if you regenerate when you _should_, you idiot!" He didn't know that Eleven had stopped trying to fight off the regeneration upon learning he'd had a cycle reset and wasn't actually dying for real.

"As soon as it finishes. I'm...regenerating at the moment. But I'll set course now and _she _knows what to do." He'd raised a flickering hand full of glowfire at the screen, set course and by the time they would get there, his face and his outfit wouldn't match, anymore. And he'd miss meeting Amelia Pond until the girl was much, much older, married to Rory and Melody was nearly ten, all of which were good for the Williams, at least. Because, he did the only thing he _could _do, he went to fetch Rose, letting the TARDIS do the timeline splitting and the driving _herself_. He had to, really, since he _was _rather busy.

The ship was a lot happier with him than she'd been, actually, though she hadn't said anything. So, while one Rose, a bit older than the one in the cottage in the DeSoto Forest was, lived in yet another universe that was neither the one of her birth nor the one where the clone had died, with a different Doctor who had already done more to prove himself trustworthy than the original had since he stopped being her first Doctor, Eleven was landing the TARDIS in a room in her house that had the strongest TARDIS landing beacon he'd ever seen in it. It was a double hop, actually, she'd paused in the living room...or what passed for one, to pick up a huge pile of luggage first. He was never quite sure how she managed to even split the timeline of the luggage, for it had still been there for Thirteen to fetch when that other timeline met his again. On the other hand, so had Rose, which was why he'd let the ship handle it to start with, _some _maneuvers were too complicated, even for him. He didn't quibble about it, if there were other hims in other universes that didn't have any Roses, then they all _needed_ one.

* * *

Thirteen would have told him that Claras were just as good as Roses.

_The TARDIS could have told Thirteen of a timeline wherein Rose had died minutes after the Clone, following him even into a true death and then, with their souls truly joined as one, they'd attached themselves to a leaf and sailed it through the void to find and then smack into a woman who would have a little girl in the fullness of time, who was destined to join her timeline with the Twelve of that Rose's birth universe. The conjoined soul of the Metacrisis and Rose Tyler en-souled the fetus and eventually the child was named 'Clara'. Between the knowledge of the Doctor part of the soul, the love of the Rose part and the sheer nerve of both, they led Clara to an eventual marriage with Thirteenth._

_But she never mentioned that bit, because while he wouldn't have minded Rose being the soul of Clara, that meant that Bad Wolf might just show up (and she had, for someone who knew what she was doing was needed when Clara stepped into his post-death timestream repair his lives, though he didn't know about that bit either) and the thought that the lost part of himself that had lived a short human span with Rose was living in his wife would just disturb him. Humans weren't really meant to have even the smallest fraction of a Time Lord's soul living in them, nevermind the Wolf. These facts had enabled Clara to do much of what she'd done and do it right, but they also matched her timeline and lifespan to his, which __**had **__rather startled him when he'd finally noticed it. He still didn't understand it._

_But SHE knew, and _**that**_ was what really mattered._

* * *

Rose Tyler dropped the clean plates she'd been about ready to take out of the rinse water when she'd heard the TARDIS, by the time she turned to look to see if the old girl was alone again this time, he was between the sink and the couch, she paused for a fraction of a second so small that he couldn't even register it when she realized it was a later form he wore though still one she had at least met, then she was running to him. She hit him so hard that they both went flying, fortunately, onto the couch, not that she noticed because she was already sobbing. Calling his use-name once in a while, but mostly wordlessly, she spilled the loneliness of the passing of time into the hands of someone that _understood_.

It took him a good long time, several hours anyway, to calm her. All he could do was just hang on really, hold her as close to himself as he could, releasing his own share of tears and they grieved together, grieved and rejoiced all at the same time. When she finally raised her head, both were still for an instant and then their mouths fused. She knew he was due a nap, just from the fact he still wore the other form's clothing, but she didn't stop. Couldn't stop, she did try, though not very hard and when his mouth covered one of her nipples, she stopped trying.

He was _so _sensitive, his new skin reacting to every touch, every stroke, however light, she made it. When she went down on him, he nearly screamed in delight and when she settled herself on his lap and impaled herself on his shaft, clenching and rippling around him in a wet, hot, tight internal massage, he did scream, hips bucking. He'd not indulged in sex often in his lives, but he knew what effect having it within moments after the glow-fires went out would likely have, and while still coughing out bits of energy...and having been stripped of his last body's clothing...his big hands came up and weighed her breasts, flicked over her nipples, fluttered down her ribs and settled on her hips. Oh yes, he'd be doing this a _lot_.

Part of what made him willing now, was the TARDIS' translation of the majority of Rose's sobbed explanation. If it weren't for that, he'd not have gotten one comprehensible word in fifty. Part was the arse-chewing by the other universe's Fifth. Part was the dynamics of this body, born missing her and half in panic at the thought of her suffering through the centuries _alone _like that. But most of it was this is what he had longed to do with, to and for her since she'd stepped onto the TARDIS to start with. He said with his body, his hands and his words, whether whispered into her hair or shouted out loud how much he'd missed her, needed her, wanted her and loved her. This body, he discovered, could do what the others could not have, in this form, he could give her the words she had waited for, for so long.

"Love you, Rose Tyler, _so much_." He wept as he filled her with himself and his fluids, then listened in disbelief as she shouted his name as she climaxed in his arms.

It made sense, he realized, since his clone _had _married her, after all, so it was to be expected that he'd _also _told her his name, though he'd answered her with it again, just to make sure he'd heard what he _thought_ he had. She'd taken it as an affirmation and simply nodded. Finally he simple drew her in close and said distinctly. "MINE, you're mine." He had told her with some force. "My _wife_, that's what _you are_, Rose Tyler."

She'd hugged him so hard around the neck she'd _nearly_ strangled him.

* * *

**~ TBC ~**


	3. Spring Flower

_**03 **_

_**To Chase the Wind**_

_**Spring Flower**_

* * *

Rose hummed to herself as she cleaned up after engaging in what she considered 'a emerging fashion emergency' in a hidden bathroom far from where the Doctor was likely to spot her...not with the TARDIS hiding her, anyway...one with a good drain and was now using really strong floor cleansers that would remove stains from even the strongest cloth dyes available in her new universe...a proper one where there'd once been a her who had died, where she could and _did _have Five attach that old timeline to the one she'd brought _with _her and do so properly.

She grinned, now, as she recalled giggling at his expression since he got to _watch _as it adjusted to _this _Rose's reality...and begin to lengthen until it stretched for so far he couldn't even _begin _to comprehend the length of it. He had also noted, in stunned shock, that his own lengthened to match it...and was soon so tightly wrapped around her's that it was well nigh impossible for him to tell where his left off, both of them were in perfect balance, one with the other.

More than any other one single thing, _that _showed that Rose Tyler was exactly where she was _supposed _to be, finally. And he told her so, hearing his ship's affirmative chiming in the air and feeling it, too, in the vibrations coming from the floor and walls. For her part, Rose had sighed, leaned into the nearest wall and then around a pillar with a little seat that formed abruptly, into which she tucked herself. Rose wanted a TARDIS hug, which was the darnest thing he'd _ever _seen. It had never occurred to him that it was even possible to do that, but he was quickly learning that Rose disregarded impossibilities with a casual brutality that frequently made him stare and sometimes even managed to _scare _him. Mostly because she made it work for both of them...to their enemies detriment and quite often, to their very public humiliation as well. Usually with some form of 'Oh, no you _don't_, not MY Doctor you don't...' included in there somewhere.

"Can I have one of those too?" He had asked his bonded TARDIS silently, felt her surprise, then her affection as one in his size was provided. They would remain, though _his _would be size adjusted whenever he regenerated, since there were times when either or both of her mobile bone bags needed her embrace. This way, they were kept safe from the sheer strength of her and they didn't have to lose themselves in the process, in an effort to get so deep into her rooms that it was just her and the wanderer present. Rose had watched, smiling a bit. _He'd _needed it as much or more than she had.

* * *

Mostly, she let him handle things, but if she had to, she was quite able of taking center stage. Word _had _started to get around that while annoying the Oncoming Storm was a bad idea, irritating Big Bad was far worse. The grin she wore as she considered this little fact was a bit grim, but satisfied. Her new Doctor was a lot safer that her old one had been. She didn't regret that he didn't really _approve _of the way she shamed her defeated enemies in public _after _the fact, but it did the job she wanted it to do and set an example for _other _would be dictators to be wary of. These days it was getting harder and harder to find something to do since most operations, however huge, tended to shut down completely once it became known the pair was on or near the planets they'd subjugated or overthrown.

He'd actually taken up jogging, to get regular _running_ in, _that's _how bad it was...and she didn't have the heart to tell him just how domestic _that _was...

She paused in her musing as she got the last of the black dye splatters from her project off the floor, _finally_ and put away the floor scrubbers and cleaners. The Doctor was in a post regeneration sleep, despite the tea she'd forced down Sixth's throat. She'd managed to locate _every _bright hodgepodge suit, from the one she _knew_ her original Doctor had worn, to a rainbow candy-cane weave, and dyed the lot of them solid black while she still had the opportunity to do so. She also extracted a promise from the TARDIS _not _to provide him with new ones...matching suits to pants in a tasteful way, was the key, she told the ship.

For Rose, displaying good taste was important. Professor outfits, matching trainers to suits and plain old black with a colored jumper were fine, but she had found and recolored the party-boy waist coat she'd seen a picture of Seven wearing at the same time. And some of the odder colors of umbrella, hat, scarf, shoes and other 'go withs', while she was at it, as well.

She had also, on a tip from the TARDIS, used hair extenders on him while he slept. According to her sister, doing this while he was still 'adjusting' would cause his TNA to mis-identify the fake hair as non-Time Lord genes and overwrite it...leaving him with long, flowing locks the same length as the hair extensions with the color determined by the roots of real hair on his head. In this case, it was going to be nice and thick and curly..._and all the way down to his knees._

* * *

The Sixth Doctor sighed, brushing his hair out of the way while bending over a bit to examine a set of jewelry to accessorize with...honestly, why had he grown such long hair this time? Yes, it was beautiful, but still...he'd seen horses with shorter manes than the one he was now sporting!

He finally settled on a Signature Set, though that had taken him _days_, instead of the few moments he'd expected. He'd _found _the outfit...well, _what was left of it_, rather. The Doctor had found the _pieces_, anyway...all of them reeking of fresh dye and solid _black_. Hell, they were still _damp_, though no longer dripping.

He complained to the ship, but the TARDIS merely apologized, claiming Rose had extracted a promise or ten from her concerning his clothing choices in the Sixth and Seventh bodies...in a preventative fashion. Then the timeship told the sulking Doctor that his wife had other ideas, _firm ones_, about what he was allowed to get away with. And added that she herself had confirmed that this him and her first Doctor's this him had identical notions about what looked good...and that his wife had set in_ gagging in revulsion _upon receiving that information...and had promptly set about dyeing the things that he was on no account allowed to put on in their prior condition...if he _still _wanted to wear them now, _that _was fine. Actually, it was rather the whole point.

He froze at the thought of picking something that revolted Rose _that _much...and let it go. He still got lots of color, but not a patchwork coat, patchwork, Rose later told him tartly, belonged on beds in the form of _quilts_. Instead she handed him something else. _She _was the reason it had taken him so long, since she'd had him trying on things for days until she finally nodded.

It was, in total, actually packing _more _colors than the original coat, but it did so in layers and in the same base color range, with many shades, which worked better because it didn't clash and wasn't so horribly bright that it hurt the eyes of most people that would see it, aside from the occasional fashion queen...and she didn't mean a diva when she had that thought, which made the ship laugh, and a few species that had eyes that were very sensitive to brightness and/or colors. He had grinned at her when the ship passed the distinction she made between 'queens' and divas.

* * *

"I don't really _need _people thinking my husband is a _queen_, or a pimp, which frankly _was _my next thought when I first saw that outfit on the wall of the Gallery of my first Doctor, _Doctor_." She told him flatly the next time he complained about her dyeing his intended outfit, and upon further reflection on his part he had to agree that Rose shouldn't have to have people trying to pay her to have him bend over for them _or _trying to sell _him_ worn out hookers to start a 'business' with.

Frankly, _he _didn't really need that sort of thing going on when they made a planetfall, either, especially with his hair this go, so he did the only sensible thing he could really do...and stopped whinging. At least he _was _ginger...which was the result of concentrating getting long black curls, on Rose's request. He exceeded the requested length, he got the curls...but the color? The one time he didn't want the ginger, he got ginger. _Of course._

Later she told him that's what she'd been counting on, and the shade he got decided her on the final selection for his Signature Outfit, which was, over all, just as outlandish in it's way as the original would have been, _without _tripping her gag reflex.

The top layer was solid black...he still got to wear the Coat, but in a 'post dye' way. His under shirt was puce, but only showed at the collar, his suit shirt was black-light purple, his waistcoat was a vibrant shade of violet though the pockets were the darkest shade of lavender she could manage _without _moving into mauve, like his suit-coat and waistcoat, his breeches were satin and these were a rather darkish shade of royal purple...things matched, but were still able to show a certain flare. After all, not everyone could wear black and purple without also being Goth as heck, she told him...and followed that observation with a sigh and, "But, if you think you're not up to it..._or can't pull it off_..."

And she'd reached for something to put it away only to have him indignantly take it back._ "I can too!" _He'd retorted, childishly.

* * *

Wordlessly, the TARDIS provided him with an umbrella that had each panel in a medium but slightly different shade of neon purple or black, with the black panels separating the purple panels. The handle was black with a glittery purple enamel over it. Rose gave him a purple top hat with a black hatband and a fluffy feather in another shade of purple that had pink and black tips, in the band along with a black and purple coontail draped down the back, just to top it off.

He soon also had an actual hooded cape, the outside was black though with a _very _bright shade of purple in the lining and it was edged with a weird shade of dayglo lavender lace, was of floor length with a very high collar and a hood with a lace veil to cover his face if he wished, that he could use to provide himself with the sorts of sweepingly dramatic motions his Sixth form liked to use, intended to distract people. She put him in solid black high-topped hiking boots., with _glittery_ purple_ glow-in-the-dark _laces. These were intended for human teenagers, female ones, though she chose not to mention _that _bit.

This Sixth _was _as outrageously attired as the other, in vivid shades of purple and clothes of satin, velvet, silk and lace...but at least he was wearing something Rose _could _live with.

* * *

_**TBC**_


End file.
